Recession-Proof Résumés: Get Hired Before Everyone Else

By Beth Madden, Madden Industrial Craftsmen, Inc.

The economy appears to be recovering quite slowly, and recent reports have mentioned that more than six million unemployed individuals have been out of work for six months or longer!

As you create your résumé, remember that it’s much more than just a listing of your previous jobs, duties and employers. Your résumé first and foremost is a sales tool — you’re “selling” your skills, knowledge and accomplishments to an employer. Your résumé should whet a potential employers’ appetite enough that you’re called in for an interview.

Below are some tips to help you craft a résumé that helps you get noticed…and hired!

Tip 1: Think like an employer. You must keep in mind that companies don’t hire people just because they have some extra funds they need to spend, or out of the goodness of their hearts. Employers hire people to solve problems.

What are an employer’s problems? The “problem” of making money (so a firm hires sales people). The challenge of keeping the office running smoothly (so a company hires office managers, administrative assistants, clerks, etc.). Companies also hire people to keep the books, to create brochures, to solve the problem of keeping the computer network running, and so on.

So you must show an employer how your background and skills takes care of the problem the position for which you’re applying will be asked to solve.

Tip 2) Create a specific résumé for every position. You don’t need to create a completely new résumé, but you should tweak your résumé to match the position for which you’re applying. It’s not an employer’s responsibility to read your résumé and figure out how your particular background fits the open position. Don’t make a hiring manager have to dig down into your résumé to see that you’re a great match. Make it as easy as possible for a hiring manager to see that you’re the perfect person to solve the problems of this particular position.

Tip 3) Skip the “objective.” The objective is that sentence at the top of a résumé that says something along the lines of “Seeking a warehouse supervisor position with leadership responsibilities including planning, organizing and managing budgets.”

Instead, write what is called an “overview statement.” This highlights what makes you different. For example: “Warehouse manager with extensive experience in coordinating warehouse activities with other divisions and departments, and creating procedures that streamline processes, thus saving thousands of dollars each quarter.”

Tip 4) Bring your résumé to Madden Industrial Craftsmen, Inc. We can help you craft a great résumé while we help place you in some of Portland’s and Seattle’s best firms. We look forward to hearing from you!